The Commerce File

A reader wrote to tell me about a new restaurant in town called "Lily Pad" which opened Tuesday at 311 N. State Street in Ukiah (463-1446). The owners are Mike and JoAnne Park. They have lived in Ukiah since 2004 and they owned and operated the popular "D & D Deli" in Cotati from 1997 until 2011. They will be featuring sandwiches, salads, crepes and ice cream cones. They will be open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday (closed Sunday). During their Grand Opening week this week they are offering specials you'll want to check out.

Max P. Schlienger, the well-known retired president and owner of Retech Systems LLC of Ukiah is the recipient of the International Titanium Association's (ITA) 2012 Titanium Achievement Award.

The annual award recognizes exceptional career contributions to technology and applications in the titanium industry.

James Goltz, president of Retech nominated Mr. Schlienger for the award and letters of endorsement were received by Leroy Leland, vice president of Retech; Howard Harker, retired vice president of Titanium Metals Corp. (TIMET), Dallas; and James Perryman Sr., chairman of Perryman Co., Houston, PA.

The ITA will present the award to Schlienger at TITANIUM 2012, the 28th annual conference and exhibition, which will be held Oct. 7-10 at the Hilton Atlanta.

A 1950 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Schlienger served in the Navy from 1945-46 and 1950-52. From 1952 to 1963 he worked at TIMET, Universal Cyclops Steel and Stauffer Metals/Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., holding positions such as project engineer, engineering manager and plant manager. In 1963 he founded Schlienger Engineering Co., in San Rafael, which eventually became Retech.

Retech specializes in the design, development and construction of vacuum- and inert-atmosphere metallurgical processing equipment (Vacuum Arc Remelting; VAR), used for the melting, refining and casting of various high-performance industrial metals.

Goltz noted that Retech, under the guidance of Schlienger, was the first company to specialize in designing production equipment to suit the needs of titanium. He referred to Schlienger as the "driving force" behind the development of three key elements: safety and electrode management systems for VARs; continuous-process, cold-hearth melting furnaces; and "Rototrode"? scrap consolidation.

"Most importantly, Max is primarily responsible for the development of plasma as a viable technology for melting titanium," Goltz wrote. "Without the use of plasma, the preparation of many of the complex alloys currently being favored by specialty (metals) users would simply not be possible. I'm honored to nominate Max Schlienger for the Titanium Achievement Award."

Underlining Schlienger's focus on safety in the design of production equipment, Leland pointed out that pressure-relief systems originally pioneered by Schlienger, such as the patented X-Y electrode manipulator, are standard equipment on today's VAR furnace installations. "The X-Y feature allows real-time electrode centering throughout the entire VAR melt, thus preventing arc contact with the water-cooled crucible."

"It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside one of the true pioneers in the titanium industry," Leland said.

Harker lauded Schlienger as a leader in the design of specialized metals melting systems, including VAR, electron beam and plasma titanium hearth melt furnaces. "I've been a long-time customer and admirer of Max. He has made significant contributions to titanium melting technology."

Perryman, who recalled working with Schlienger more than 50 years ago, concurred with Harker, saying Schlienger's engineering and production capability "gave the titanium industry a source for melting equipment. He is well deserving of this award."

Schlienger holds 22 patents and in 1995 was tapped by the Small Business Administration as the national "Small Business Person of the Year."

I admit to not understanding half of what these industry folks are talking about, but I know, as do many other area residents, that Max Schlienger is a pioneer in his field, that he is a community-minded person and Retech is a shining example of the kind of businesses we wish we had more of around here.

Got a copy of Roger Mobley's letter to the county planning and building staff upon his decision to leave his job as Planning Director.

Saying he had mixed feelings about leaving and that he once felt confident about taking the job when Nash Gonzalez left, "the process over the last six months to perform both the Chief Planner and Director roles has been difficult and the lack of a decision to appoint me as permanent director has been disappointing, to say the least. I think it is a missed opportunity for both the county and me, but life has a way sometimes of making decisions for you. As a result I felt I had to take control of my life and look for a position both closer to my family in southern California and one without the uncertainty of my situation here."

He goes on to compliment the staff and tell them that he will miss them and reminds them: "I have tried to instill in all of you that what is important in your job is not whether someone tells you are doing a good job but that you believe within yourself that what you are doing is worthwhile and that you feel self satisfaction from it."

Got the following letter this week from Jane Futcher and Erin Carney of Willits:

"Three cheers for KZYX&Z and Mendocino Public Broadcasting! Yesterday, the station whisked a bus full of station supporters to a Giants v. Dodgers game at AT&T Park, where KZYX&Z Program Manager Mary Aigner hit a home run. She proved that in addition to being a radio whiz, she's also a magical events producer, conjuring up gorgeous weather for our ferry ride from Larkspur Landing to the stadium in San Francisco, catering yummy food and drink, and providing a 4-0 Giants win over those pesky Dodgers. What a day, what a team, what a station! Thank you, Mary, and KZYX&Z.

The folks at Craft Distillers in Ukiah (the company which makes Germain-Robin brandies here and a list of hard liquors from vodka to whiskeys in other facilities) has a new product on the market called "Pear de Pear." It's made of, hm, let's guess, pears! Here's Craft Distiller's always entertaining Ansley Coale on how it came about:

"If it sounds familiar, it's because the defunct RMS/Schramsberg distillery in Carneros produced a Pear de Pear in the late 1990s. Here's my understanding of that product: it was developed by the native distillers, who occasionally chafed under the direction of the folks from Remy Martin. It was a great product, and routinely outsold the RMS brandies in the tasting room. It was never allowed into the market. After Remy sold the facility, they abandoned the Pear de Pear trademark.

"We 1. Frequently got calls from aficionados asking if we knew where the product was available, 2. have been distilling local (Lake/Mendocino County) Bartletts since 1987. We discovered early on that we didn't like how pear brandy aged (lacks structure and length), but that it makes a very good base for liqueurs. Hubert (eds. note: Hubert Germain-Robin was the creator of the G-R brandies but has left the company) thus developed the Creme de Poete, a dry sherry-like liqueur (including various infused exotica) which we sell at the tasting room in very limited quantities. Five years ago we consulted with Rick Estes, the man who developed the RMS formula, and (Craft Distiller's) Joe (Corley) went to work. Many experiments ensued. We are very happy with the result."

The new Pear de Pear will be released in major metro markets first, with more to come in 2013. In the meantime you can mail order it through www.caddellwilliams.com.

I got an email from Bernard Meyers of the North Coast Railroad Authority (which oversees the operation of railroads between Napa and Eureka) with a memo he wrote to the board about the situation NCRA finds itself in regarding its lease with the freight train operator, NorthWestern Pacific. The discussion among board members will be held at the NCRA meeting Oct. 10 in Healdsburg.

The gist is that NCRA thought it had an agreement with NWP for certain payments and leases that now seem to be unraveling and are under renegotiation.

Here's a sampling from Meyers' lengthy email.

"1. In September 2006 NCRA entered into a Lease with a newly formed freight railroad, NWP. NWP's President had been an Executive Director of NCRA in the 1990's. NCRA's current Executive Director had been the chief legislative assistant to NWP's Counsel when Counsel was in the California Assembly and the US Congress. The Lease potentially gave NWP operating rights up to 104 years without any meaningful oversight by NCRA. NWP was to make In Lieu Fee payments of $20,000/month until its trains were running and thereafter the fees were indeterminate - conceivably even nonexistent. ...

"2. By April 2010 NCRA had spent over $60 million of tax payer's funds for repair work on the line. But NWP convinced the Board to enter into a No-Bid contract under which NWP was supposedly to finish repairing the line. Initially the cost was to be for less that $1 million and the work would be finished by September 1, 2010. Then the cost rose to $1.1 million, with the same completion date. In August, the cost rose to $1.9 million and the completion date was pushed back to October 1. The contract price was again reset in November 2011 at somewhere around $3 million and the work was supposedly finished in August 2011, after operations had commenced....

"3. In June 2011 the parties partially amended the Lease. They recognized that a renegotiation of the entire Lease was necessary and committed to "promptly meet and negotiate in good faith" ... NWP was to pay $25,000 monthly to NCRA (which could include credit for prior Advanced Lease payments). ..

"4. We had a double header in October 2011. NCRA and NWP jointly borrowed $3.1 million from the federal government (the RRIF loan) to pay for NWP's supposed track repair work. No review of NWP's No-Bid contract billing was presented to the Board. Meanwhile, NWP laid claim to the proceeds of the future sale of NCRA's Ukiah Depot in order to recoup a vast array of NWP's expenditures. Millions of dollars are involved. ...

"5. July 1, 2012 came and went. However, no Depot sale had occurred and no new fee had been negotiated. NWP now refuses to pay NCRA for NWP's use of the right-of-way....

And Meyers concludes: "Now then what should we do? This is not the first time we have found ourselves in this situation. Prior to the June 2011 Amendment the situation was similar. NWP had decided to cut off the In Lieu Fee payments. But then NWP was on the verge of starting its operations. Now NWP is an operating rail carrier. It therefore behooves us to get the lease terms right, once and for all."

The Community Foundation of Mendocino County's president, Jim Mayfield, and Executive Director, Susanne Norgard, recently were panelists at a Council on Foundation's conference in New Orleans. The James Irvine Foundation selected them to speak on strategic business planning and board development at a session designed for small, mostly rural, community foundations.

"It is nice to know that the work we have done in Mendocino County is of interest to other growing community foundations," says Mayfield. "We love to share our vision and organizational success, and of course, we love to let others know what a special place we live in."`

The Council on Foundations is a membership organization which provides services to over 1,700 national and international foundations. The conference in New Orleans provided an opportunity for Jim and Susanne, as well as Community Foundation board members Francine Selim and Katie Gibbs, to meet colleagues from every state.

Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D ? Arcata) is urging Gov. Jerry Brown to quickly sign a bill Chesbro authored that seeks to restrict the emergency transfers of crab permits to boats from out of state. AB 2363, which both houses of the Legislature passed unanimously, is an urgency bill that will take effect immediately upon the governor's signature.

"The main fix' in this bill is to prevent a repeat of last season when large crab boats from out of state took unfair advantage of the devastation in Crescent City Harbor caused by the March 2011 tsunami," Chesbro said. "A number of boats damaged or destroyed had crab permits that had no or few crab landings in recent seasons. These permits were able to be transferred to much larger boats from other states, which disproportionately competed with California crab boats for the California Dungeness harvest.

"AB 2363 will restrict the emergency transfer of Dungeness crab permits to vessels of comparable size and capacity, plus require additional proof and assurances before a transfer is permitted. I'm asking Governor Brown to sign the bill quickly so it can take effect in time for this year's crab season, which typically starts in December."

Other provisions of AB 2363 will:

? Allow the Department of Fish and Game to develop regulations to permit any licensed and permitted crab fisherman to retrieve lost or abandoned commercial crab traps at the end of the crab season, not just the owner of the trap. "This means less derelict fishing gear in the water to ensnare wildlife or to interfere with other fishing operations," Chesbro said.

? Authorize the sale of meat from crabs that are pulled up during the testing process each year to determine if the crabs are of sufficient size to allow the season to commence. Revenue from these sales will fund the testing program, which has suffered from inconsistency in the past because it has lacked a stable funding source.

? Allow an administrative law judge, when reviewing appeals under soon-to-be-implemented crab trap limits, to waive appeal fees based on military service or medical hardship.

Mendocino Transit Authority has launched a remodel of its web site at www.mendocinotransit.org.

According to MTA marketing manager Glenna Blake, "The redesign features a new, streamlined look and improved navigation that will make it easier than ever for our customers to access information."

A Google Transit Trip Planner is now more prominent and passengers can enter travel info from the home page to plan a trip. the trip planner integrates Google Maps as well.

Another new tool is the Fare Calculator at which passengers can enter their starting and finishing points and get a price for their trip.

After 20 years with the Lake County Winegrape Commission, President Shannon Gunier is leaving to pursue other interests.

Gunier is retiring from the Commission post, she announced, stating, "This is a good time to step down."

Since 1991 the Winegrape Commission's objective has been to market the Lake County winegrape growing region to new and existing grape buyers and wineries all over the United States.

"Lake County is at an all time high in (winegrape) tonnage harvested, and our prices have never been higher," said Gunier. "We have excellent directors on the Commission board who oversee the various efforts. They are hard working, knowledgeable individuals who will continue to develop programs and offer assistance to our grower members."

The Commission will begin its search for a candidate to fill the position being vacated by Gunier. Once a new president is hired, Gunier will help train the individual and continue to offer her services as a consultant. "This is an opportunity to keep the Commission leadership fresh and moving forward," the group's president added.